


Lovely Darkness

by midnight_queery



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Cops, Detective, Evil Princess, Evil Queen - Freeform, F/F, Finished, I guess maybe, Kinda, Murder, Murder Mystery, OUAT - Freeform, Officer - Freeform, Once Upon A Time, One Shot, Police, Short Story, Snowing - Freeform, Swan Queen - Freeform, but still, idfk, idk why i did this, ok its not much of a mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 20:09:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20823080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnight_queery/pseuds/midnight_queery
Summary: Officer Emma Spero finds Regina kneeling over the body of her dead husband while their son sleeps upstairs. Some think Regina did it, but did she really?~I joined a writing club and someone was doing a short story kinda like this so I made my own and turned it into a fanfic cuz that's all I'm freaking good at~"Spero" means "Hope" in Latin fyi





	Lovely Darkness

Officer Spero was about to fall asleep. She was camped out in her squad car outside of the Police Chief’s house, all alone. Her partner August was supposed to be with her, but had pulled out at the last minute due to stomach pains. Everyone suspected he was faking it to get out of what was essentially going to be the most boring stakeout in the history of stakeouts. Who in their right mind would actually try to harm the Chief of Police? The man was known to be a terrifyingly adept fighter and he was well-known as a sharpshooter to boot. It was bizarre enough that some fool was sending him threatening emails and letters laced with poison.

“That was a stupid idea,” Spero muttered to herself. Of course the Chief would have any suspicious envelopes checked out. He’d used the poisoned mail to help rally the whole precinct behind him, spouting hypotheticals about what could have happened had his wife or son gone to get the mail that day. Cops got angry when their own were threatened, but threaten their families? “You’re just asking for a bloodbath.”

Spero sipped her lukewarm coffee and glared at the thermos. She needed to upgrade if she was going to be stuck with the night shift. The caffeine helped wake her up a little, and as she stretched to relieve the tension in her back and legs from sitting for so long she noticed a light inside the mansion flick on. A few minutes passed in silence, then the light was out again. Spero had only been in the house a few times, but she was pretty sure it was the kitchen light. Maybe someone in the Chief’s family had woken up thirsty? She dismissed the oddity and went back to surveying the black and grey landscape created by the waning moon overhead. If August were here she knew he’d be prattling on about some book or another he’d read, or some outlandish idea he was just itching to write (not that he’d ever get around to it-- he was a writer in all the worst ways). Spero snorted to herself and checked the time on her phone: 03:47. She still had over two hours until Officers Draco and Zel would relieve her. Dammit. As she moved to take another sip of the now-disgusting coffee, she jolted. Was that…?

Spero launched herself out of the car, slamming the door closed as she sprinted to the Chief’s house. Screams were coming from inside the mansion. She pulled out the key she’d been given and unlocked the door, then shoved it into her pocket and ran towards the screaming. Spero came to a halt inside the kitchen, and her eyes darted all around, taking in the scene. 

Regina, the Chief’s wife, was clad in black silk pajamas and kneeling beside the hulking form of her husband. He was sprawled on the floor, skin a gray-blue and eyes wide open and horrified. His white sleep shirt was soaked with reddish-brown blood, and the hands lying limply at his sides looked like they’d been dunked in dark red paint. There was a deep slice in his neck, and judging by the blood spray on the walls, ceiling, and counters, his carotid artery had been ruptured. A kitchen knife, the kind one might use to cut a melon for a picnic, was sitting innocently on the counter by the sink, clean and shiny.

“What happened?” Spero blurted, though she knew it was a stupid question. Obviously, someone had broken in and murdered the Chief of Police. So much for the state-of-the-art home security system that apparently meant they only needed one patrol car out front ‘just to reassure the wife and kid’.

“What does it look like, Officer Spero?!” Regina snapped. The brunette rose from her kneeling position beside her dead husband and stalked over to the blonde officer gaping at the crime scene. “Someone has murdered my husband. Now, if you’d kindly call it in, I need to go check on my son!” Regina was up the stairs and out of sight before Spero could even think of a reply. Shortly after the woman’s swift exit, Spero spared a moment to wonder why the boy hadn’t come down stairs when he’d heard his mother screaming. Perhaps they had a panic room he was supposed to go to? Shaking her head clear, Spero called in the murder to the precinct. She’d been on patrol while the Chief was murdered in his own home; she was so screwed.

Once the call was put in, CSU was on the scene almost immediately. By the time Regina came downstairs, this time wearing a rich blue dress and matching heels, the ground floor of the mansion was swarming with officers and detectives. A young boy of about ten years was peeking out at the chaos from behind his mother, and when he and Officer Spero made eye contact he hurriedly ducked out of sight. Spero grinned slightly and walked over to the pair. “Shouldn’t you be wearing black?” she asked quietly, eyeing the colorful dress.

“Shouldn’t you be investigating?” Regina returned snidely. Spero raised her eyebrows in surprise, but before she could reply Detective Mal joined the group.

“Regina, Henry, I am so very sorry for your loss,” Mal said softly. She embraced Regina briefly, then knelt by Henry. “Your father was a good man, just as I’m sure you’ll grow up to be. He loved you and your mother very much, Henry.” 

The boy merely nodded before darting behind Regina again. He was pretty sure his parents did not, in fact, love each other, judging by all the fighting he’d overheard, but he wasn’t about to tell Mal that. He’d seen her around a lot and knew that while she claimed to be his mom’s friend, she was actually more loyal to his dad. When they talked, they often locked the door.

“Thank you, Mal,” Regina said, offering the woman a small smile. “I need to get Henry to school, but I’ll be back shortly.”  
“Surely you’re not going to make the boy go to school today, of all days,” Mal said, disbelief and accusation ripe in her voice. Mal had loved the Chief, and she believed he had loved her, even if he had never said it and chose instead to remain with his pitiful wife and bratty adopted child. “His father was just murdered!”

“Yes,” Regina agreed through gritted teeth. “And his home is overrun with strangers while the kitchen is a crime scene.” Regina met Spero’s eyes briefly, then turned to Mal. “The best place for my son right now is school. It’s normal, it’s safe, and it’s where he will be going. Now, I’ll be back in about half an hour; don’t destroy too much.” Regina and Henry left a bewildered Mal and a smirking Spero standing in the foyer to get into the Benz and head to school.

“Officer Spero,” Mal said silkily once the two had left, “do you think Regina is acting… off?” She turned her dark eyes to the young officer who had called in the crime, a hungry gaze lurking behind batting eyelashes. “I mean, if  _ your _ husband was just murdered--”

“I’m not married,” Spero interrupted.

“But if you  _ were _ , and your husband--”

“Wouldn’t marry a man,” Spero blurted. “Anyway, you’re the detective. Why ask the opinion of a ‘pathetic little brat playing dress up’?” Spero glared at the detective. She’d overheard her dissing the patrol cops a few weeks ago, and while she hadn’t made a fuss she had definitely not forgotten it. The woman was a snake (think less seductive and more Voldemort).

Spero turned and left Mal, eyes wide and mouth snapped shut, to head back to the kitchen. She didn’t bother trying to bypass the yellow police tape-- there was no way they were going to allow her back inside. Instead she simply stood outside the flimsy barrier and surveyed the scene again, looking for anything she’d missed. They’d already removed the Chief’s corpse, so now all that was left was the copious amount of blood he’d lost. The knife was still sitting on the counter, and Spero watched silently as someone photographed it with an expensive camera. Everyone assumed it was the murder weapon since it was out of place, clean, and lying on top of dried blood splatters. Turning her attention to the rest of the room, Spero frowned.

The small family dining table had only four chairs, and of those four three were sitting snugly pushed in. The fourth was imitating them poorly. It was not perfectly squared to the table but looked as if it had been shoved under by someone in a hurry. The current theory was that the Chief had heard someone downstairs and gone to investigate, then was ambushed in the kitchen by someone who was likely right-handed, considering they had slashed the left carotid.

If the Chief had been sitting down, though, the killer had probably been left handed as they would have snuck up on him from behind. Spero clenched her hands into fists and watched the tendons moving under her skin. If she told everyone what she’d observed they might start looking for a left-handed killer instead of pointing their fingers at Regina, who was right-handed. However, they might also call it a cover up and claim she could have lured her husband downstairs and killed him from behind while claiming to be bringing him a drink.

“Hey, partner.” A cheery voice called.

“August,” Spero greeted, turning. She cleared the indecision from her face and smiled faintly at the man. His scraggly beard and hair were just as unruly as ever, and though his eyes were a bit bloodshot he seemed no worse for wear. “I thought you were out sick?”

“Apparently someone let the Chief get murdered so they needed all hands on deck!” August grinned at her. “Glad I’m off the hook for that one, at least.”

Spero rolled her eyes and scowled at the man-child. “There was nothing I could do. By the time I was alerted to the problem there was nothing here but his body.”

“So I’ve heard. How’s his wife and kid?”

“Regina took Henry to school and she should be back in about fifteen minutes. They both seemed okay, considering what’s happened.” Spero shrugged uncomfortably and didn’t make eye contact. She knew what August was about to bring up, and sure enough:

“You still got the hots for her? I mean, at least she’s not married to your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss’s boss’s boss anymore.” August peered over at his friend in concern. He was trying to make light of it, but he knew Spero had been crushing on Regina at least since he’d joined the force three years ago, if not longer. “You can’t let your feelings interfere with the job, you know. You were the first on the scene. If Regina did anything suspicious--”

“Then I would have told someone. C’mon, man, I’m not a rookie.” Spero pushed past August and made her way over to the detectives discussing the case.

“I still say the wife did it,” Mal was saying. “It’s always the spouse. Even crappy cop shows know that much.”

“We can’t just start blaming the Chief’s wife,” Lieutenant Nolan cautioned. “The press would have a field day, and we don’t actually have any evidence pointing to Regina. We need to do this 100% by the book, or everyone will think we’re cutting corners to get revenge.”

“I agree with David,” Mary Margaret piped up. “As the ADA who will be working on this case, I refuse to prosecute without sufficient evidence and--”

“Oh alright, alright,  _ Charmings _ ,” Mal sneered. “We get it. The husband and wife powerhouse pair want us to go by the book and catalogue every single skin cell. Fine.” Mal threw her hands up and stormed away from the flabbergasted group. She wanted to nail Regina to the wall for this. She just knew in her gut that the woman had something to do with killing the Chief! (The little voice in her head telling her that maybe it was just her jealousy and grief talking was quickly drowned out by those very emotions.)

So the police investigated for nearly a year, and not a shred of evidence pointing to anyone in particular was found. They ended up questioning Regina, Officer Spero, and even Henry to see if they’d missed anything, but nothing came up. The case was cold and deader than the Chief himself. And so, reluctantly, they shelved it. There were thousands upon thousands of other cases to work on, and everyone was getting frustrated by the lack of results.

It was exactly one year after the Chief’s demise that Officer Spero found herself once again on the mansion’s doorstep, this time waiting to be let in. Henry opened the door and immediately grabbed her hand to pull her inside.

“You’re late!” The boy cried. “C’mon, c’mon!” He dragged Spero to the living room and shoved an xbox controller into her hands. “I’ve been practicing with Mom, and I know I’m gonna beat you this time!” He grinned up at Spero and she gave him an equally-wide grin back.

“Good luck, kiddo. You’re gonna need it!” Regina came home to find Henry and Officer Spero eating pizza while the boy continued to boast about finally winning a game against her. When Regina eyed the meal with distaste Spero merely shrugged. “I said the kid could pick what to eat for dinner if he won. And as you can clearly see by the weird victory dance he’s doing, he won.”

Regina walked over and leaned down to whisper, “You let him win just so you had an excuse to get pizza, didn’t you?” The blonde grinned guiltily and Regina chuckled. “Well, it’s alright for tonight, I suppose. We’ll consider it a celebration.”

“Oh crap, did I forget an anniversary or something?” Spero yelped. Regina just shook her head and sighed.

“Not exactly. You’d think you’d at least have the decency to remember the one year anniversary of the day you turned my kitchen into a crime scene, though, Officer Emma Spero.”

“Ohhh yeah, that. You were really mean to me after, too.” Emma pouted and crossed her arms. “Telling me to investigate when we both knew I’d done it.”

“Well, dear, I wasn’t exactly pleased that I was going to have to redo the entire kitchen.” Regina glared at Emma half-heartedly, but Emma just laughed.

“Please! You were griping about how much you hated the stupid paint colors the Chief chose at least three times a day. I know you enjoyed having an excuse to redecorate.”

“Still.” Regina rolled her eyes. How she’d fallen in love with this idiot she’d never know. “Did you two save any pizza for me?”

“Of course, Mom!” Henry called from the couch where he was currently still dancing victoriously, completely oblivious to the rest of the conversation. “Ma and I didn’t eat it all!”

“We got two, actually,” Emma stage-whispered. Henry looked at her with wide eyes, unable to believe she’d just spilled their secret, while Regina just laughed, unable to believe where she’d ended up.

When Henry had run off and somehow managed to find his birth mother at the age of six, she’d been terrified that the woman would take away the only person she loved. Her son was the only reason she’d never tried to divorce her abusive husband-- he’d threatened to take her to court for custody, and because of his connections she knew he’d win. But then Emma showed up and saved them.

Regina had never thought their plan would work, but it had. Emma had put a non-lethal amount of poison in her partner’s coffee that morning so he’d be out sick and rigged the schedules so she’d end up guarding the mansion solo. Regina got the Chief to come downstairs, and while they were talking quietly at the table Emma snuck up from behind and killed him. Henry, of course, was fast asleep the whole time thanks to a small dose of sleeping medicine in his dinner (Regina decided that part at the last minute so they wouldn’t risk traumatizing the poor boy).

And now Regina was free to live with her son and his mother, who she still couldn’t believe her luck in meeting.

“I love you, Emma Spero,” Regina whispered quietly. Emma looked over at her in happy confusion, and before the blonde could say it back Regina swooped in and kissed her.

“Eww, guys,” Henry whined. “No one wants to see their parents kissing!”


End file.
